Missing Flower

It all started on a warm summer afternoon. It was 1995, and Evaline was wondering the forest, she didn't need to be home until the sun was setting. She had a few more hours, she was sure, and continued to delve into the green growth. Humming a song she grew up to, "Take On Me". Her mother loved that song, and always played it whenever she got the chance, even sang it to Evaline as a young child. Now at the age of sixteen, Evaline knew how to sing that song almost perfectly, with every high and low note.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes and stepped over a fallen tree, hearing the birds chirp. She loved the peace and quiet of nature, and she knew for a fact she couldn't ever grow tired of it. She came here every chance she got and was rather determined that she knew this forest like the back of her hand. Only getting lost a handful of times when she first began exploring the forest, she was always confident leaving the house and coming here. This was her escape.

Evaline's foot caught on something and she fell. Her eyes flew open and she shot her arms out, trying to catch herself, but she couldn't in time. She landed on the ground with a loud thump, immediately winded by the fall. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, there shouldn't have been something there for her to trip over. While she gained her breath back, she began to get on her knees, she wasn't too worried about what she had tripped over, convinced it could've been a limb that had recently fallen. The wind had been bad these past few days.

She slowly turned her head and didn't see anything, not even a fallen limb of a tree. This confused her even more. Ferns were swaying gently to a soft breeze that pushed through, and the birds continued to chirp. Everything seemed so undisturbed. Evaline was still confused as to what she tripped over, so she got up to her feet and took a step forward. A flash of a soft yellow screamed at her underneath the ferns, maybe those were flowers. There were wild flowers growing everywhere. With a sigh, she took another step forward, her stomach tightening, the yellow flowers became a yellow t-shirt. And attached to that t-shirt were discolored arms, and a head, face in the dirt. Chocolate brown hair splayed out in every direction, pieces of leaves and mulch tangled in it.

Evaline's eyes wandered down, and she immediately realized that the body didn't have any pants on, or underwear for that matter. Her stomach churned, and twisted violently, she was becoming sick. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists, turning around and getting a breath of fresh air. But the image was stuck in her mind. It happened before she felt it, her breakfast and lunch came up in a matter of seconds, and she couldn't stop it. What the hell did she just witness? Of course a dead body, but whos? And how long had it been there?

Spitting up the rest of her vomit, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and turned back to the body. The skin was discolored and swollen. She didn't dare turn the body around to look at the face, afraid of any form of insect crawling out. Evaline heaved again, a horrible smell filling her nose. It was the smell of rotting flesh. She didn't know what to do, or think. So, she backed away, tears filling her eyes, and spilling over, covering her mouth and nose, afraid of the smell.

She turned away and ran home. How was she to tell her mother? Was she supposed to go to the police first? Or the ambulance? Although, what was the ambulance to do? The girl was already dead. Her mind traced back to that image of the body and she gagged. She sped up and ran faster, dodging branches and fallen objects, her eyes scouring the forest floor, just in case there were any other horrid things she had missed on the way. There were none.

Evaline finally reached her house and she burst through the door, tears still in her eyes, gasping for air, a side stitch beginning to form on her left side.

"Mom," she wheezed, stumbling through the kitchen and into the living room. Her mother was there, folding clothes. Her mother glanced up, and set the clothes aside, concerned for her daughter, who seemed to be in some sort of trouble.